Now 59

Artist: Various Artists
Label: EMI Int'l
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2

UPC: 724386492227
EAN: 0724386492227
ASIN: B00066D1XG

Release Date: 2004-11-18

Now 59

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Tracks:

Curtain Falls - Blue
She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5
These Words - Natasha Bedingfield
Radio - Robbie Williams
Thunderbirds Are Go - Busted
Call on Me - Eric Prydz
Love Machine - Girls Aloud
Obviously
More, More, More - Rachel Stevens
Kinda Love - Darius
Hip to Hip
Leave (Get Out) - JoJo Garza
Stolen - Jay Sean
Mary - Scissor Sisters
Bedshaped - Keane
Can't Stand Me Now - The Libertines
Reason - Hoobastank
Gravity - Embrace
What You're Made Of - Lucie Silvas
I Hope You Dance - Ronan Keating
I Believe in My Heart - Duncan James,

Tracks:

Nothing Hurts Like Love - Daniel Bedingfield
Stop - Jamelia
Happy People - R. Kelly
My Place - Nelly
Let's Get It Started - Black Eyed Peas
Millionaire - Kelis
Baby Cakes
My Neck My Back (Lick It) [Kardinal Beats Clean Radio Edit] - Khia
You Can Do It [2004 UK-G Remix] - Ice Cube, , Mack 10, Ms. Toi
You Had Me - Joss Stone
Whatever U Want - Joe Budden, Christina Milian
Caught in a Moment - Sugababes
You Should Really Know - Shola Ama, Naila Boss, Enya, ,
I Like That - Chingy, Nate Dogg, Houston, I-20
Is It Cos I'm Cool? - Emma Lanford, Mousse T
Flashdance - Deep Dish
Do You Know (I Go Crazy) - Angel City, Lara McAllen
Weekend - Michael Gray
Get It On - Intenso Project, Lisa Scott-Lee
You Won't Forget About Me - Flower Power, Dannii Minogue
Pump It Up - Danzel
Hungry Eyes

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Album Description

The Christmas edition of NOW never fails to please - packed with the best singles in the run up to the Christmas season. 2 CD set featuring Blue, Maroon 5, JoJo, Ronan Keating, Daniel Bedingfield, Black Eyed Peas, Joss Stone, Dannii Minogue vs FlowerPower and more. Virgin. 2004.

Customer Reviews:

BRILLIANT!! 24th december 2004........2004-12-25

If you love the NOW'S, this is a great one to buy. I love it it's brilliant.

NOW 59:.......2004-11-18

Disc 1

-1. Blue, Curtain Falls: While surprisingly good for a boy-band track, it's still too mediocre to make much of a difference. (C-)
-2. Maroon5, She Will Be Loved: US radio hit. Overrated, but fairly good, despite being their weakest single to date. (B+)
-3. Natasha Beningfield, These Words: Catchy, airy pop music for the new millenium. Nothing special, but a big earworm. (B)
-4. Robbie Williams, Radio: Different from his usual stuff, but still pop goodness, though not even close to his Ego Has Landed days. (B+)
-5. Eric Prydz, Call On Me: A bizzare loop set to generic dance music that inexplicably made #1. The song's worth it for sheer novelty value though... (???)
-6. Busted, Thunderbirds: If you know anything about Bowling For Soup, well Busted sound like Bowling For Soup as Simple Plan rejects. This song, from the trainwreck-like awfulness of this summer's flop, seems to have a trainwreck quality too... it's so awful, it manages to be classic. (D-, B- for satirical purposes)
-7. Girls Aloud, Love Machine: The girls sound uncannily like Atomic Kitten in this dull, uninspired runthrough. (C+)
-8. McFly, Obviously: Think Tray Parker and Matt Stone using irony as an excuse to ape New Found Glory. (F+)
-9. Rachel Stevens, More More More: A spectacularly faithful cover that somehow loses something in translation. (C+)
-10. Darius, Kinda Love: Okay song, but like Blue, they at least tried. (B-)
-11. V, Hip To Hip: Awful boy-band song, with lyrics probably thought of while doing the hokey-pokey. (F)
-12. JoJo, Leave: Though a tad formulaic, she gets an A for effort. (B)
-13. Jay Sean, Stolen: (C-)
-14. Scissor Sisters, Mary: A knockout piano ballad like what Elton wished he could do nowadays. (A)
-15. Keane, Bedshaped: Quaint, nicer Coldplay. Though the song's pretty decent, they still, now more than ever, evoke Travis to the point of impersonation. (B+)
-16. The Libertines, Can't Stand Me Now: Riding on a wave of nice but overlong guitar intro, the song is still charming in a blokey kind of way. (B+)
-17. Hoobastank, The Reason: Unforgivably catchy adult-alternative song we've all been hearing for too long. (B+)
-18. Embrace, Gravity: A cover of a Coldplay song that was never made. Chris Martin propels this one to best album song, easily. (A+)
-19. Lucia Silvas, What I'm Made Of: Dull piano ballad. (C)
-20. Ronan Keating, I Hope You Dance: Pretty much the original with male vocals. (B+)
-21. Duncan James feat. Keedie, I Believe My Heart: This generation's "Wedding Song", but far more campy. (B+)

Disc 2

-1. Daniel Bedingfield, Nothing Hurts Like Love: (C+)
-2. Jamelia, Stop: Catchy but uninspired pop music. (B-)
-3. R. Kelly, Happy People: Overlong but still underrated pop-soul single. Leagues away from Ignition, however. (B)
-4. Nelly feat. Jaheim, My Place: Dilemma Part 2. Jaheim makes better than Kelly, though. (B-)
-5. Black-Eyed Peas, Let's Get It Started: Breezy pop-rap with a rock tang. One of my favorite singles of the year. (A-)
-6. Kelis feat. Andre 3000, Millionaire: Fun collaboration between the songstress behind "Milkshake" and the genius behind "Hey Ya". (B+)
-7. Baby Cakes, 3 Of A Kind: It's a manufactured pop braggadocio track that somehow manages to feel different and like we've heard it a thousand times before. With vocals that sound strangely like Mike Skinner. (B-)
-8. Khia, Lick It Lick It: Really bad music that sounds like Christina Millian but with an annoying faux-ghetto attitude. (F)
-9. Ice Cube, You Can Do It: After his gigs on N.W.A. and Westside Connection, you feel sad that this is the best he can muster after such a good career. (F-)
-10. Joss Stone, You Had Me: Much better than Jamelia's effort, this one still shows Joss has real talent. (B+)
-11. Christina Millian feat. Joe Budden, Whatever U Want: Awful. just awful. (F+)
-12. Sugababes, Caught In A Moment: Oddly enjoyable ballad, though not as good as their best single Hole In The Head. (B)
-13. The Pirates feat. Enya, You Should Really Know: The sample alone is terrible, so I couldn't tell whether this was worse than Mario's track, itself one of the worst singles in the last 14 years. (F)
-14. Houston feat. Chingy, Nate Dogg & I-20, I Like That: The rapping is inspid. Nate Dogg is particularly dissapointing, him doing good last year on "Gangsta Nation". (C)
-15. Emma Landford feat. Mousse T, Is It Cos I'm Cool?: (D+)
-16. Deep Dish, Flashdance: One of the best dance songs of the year, despite the somewhat generic vocals. (B+)
-17-22 are all generic dance tracks, the best of those being "Get It On" and "Hungry Eyes".

Do They Know It? Christmas edition........2004-11-17

Twenty years ago a group of most UK based acts got together to record a charity single called "Do They Know It's Christmas". While the singers were all UK based, they were at least as well known in the States. Paul Young, Boy George, Simon LeBon, Sting, George Michael, Bono. This month a similar all-star UK lineup are rerecording that classic track. But while the list of performers this time are wowing the British public, these acts are largely going to leave the US audience shrugging their shoulders. Some, such as Joss Stone, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, and The Darkness are marginally known in America, But Dizzee Rascal? Jamelia? Keane? Busted? Will Young & Ms Dynamite?

A lot has happened to separate the US & UK musically in the 20 years since the original NOW! series began and this this album shows that void.

Here's the tracklisting:

1. Blue - Curtain Falls
- No, that violin riff isn't sampled from Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". Both borrow from Stevie Wonder's "Pasttime Paradise". Darn good song from an overacheiving boyband.
2. Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
3. Natasha Bedingfield - These Words
- Sister of Daniel, who had a few medium US successes.
4. Robbie Williams - Radio
- Robbie's so big in the UK that even this melange of nothing much made #1.
5. Busted - Thunderbirds
- Remember that bad "Thunderbirds" kids movie this summer? Or the UK marionette TV series it was based on? No, neither do I.
6. Eric Prydz - Call On Me
- Here's an easier one. Remember Steve Winwood's "Valerie", with the lines "Valerieeeeee, call on me. Call on meeeeeeee, Valerie". Well imagine looping the 2 "Call on me"s ad nauseum over a dancebeat. That wouldn't be LIKE this record. That WOULD BE this record.
7. Girls Aloud - Love Machine
- Nope, not the Miracles mid-70's track covered. Nothing special.
8. McFly - Obviously
- Another boyband, another hit. Sigh...
9. Rachel Stevens - More, More, More
- Yes, a remake of the Andrea True hit, the original of which was sampled in Len's "Steal My Sunshine".
10. Darius - Kinda Love
- Kinda meh.
11. V - Hip To Hip
- There's five members in the group but "Five" was already taken as a band name so, get it?, they use the Roman numeral. If you think that's clever, you'll love the band.
12. JoJo - Leave (Get Out)
- Did you know she was the winner of the brief-lived NBC series "America's Most Talented Kid"? Runner-up? Diana DeGarmo.
13. Jay Sean - Stolen
14. Scissor Sisters - Mary
- Listening to this band is like a compilation album in itself. You never know what they'll sound like next. Ballad, rocker, Pink Floyd dance remake.
15. Keane - Bedshaped
- Radiohead without the angst.
16. The Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now
- Like this one a lot. Just can't remember it.
17. Hoobastank - The Reason
- One of the big American radio hits of the year.
18. Embrace - Gravity
19. Lucie Silvas - What You're Made Of
- No opinion on these two.
20. Ronan Keating - I Hope You Dance
- Faithful but cheesy remake of the the LeeAnn Womack classic. Keating, former lead singer of Boyzone, is making a career of mediocre covers of decent US country songs. (She Believes In Me, If Tomorrow Never Comes)
21. Duncan James & Keedie -I Believe My Heart
- A new piece by Andrew Lloyd-Webber from a musical yet to open.

Disc: 2
1. Daniel Bedingfield - Nothing Hurts Like Love
- Nothing to match up to the tracks from his debut.
2. Jamelia - Stop
- Generic UK soul-pop
3. R. Kelly - Happy People
- Apparently not reflective of his tour with Jay-Z
4. Nelly - My Place
- Boring rapper, but a great mid-tempo ballad singer. This is the latter.
5. Black Eyed Peas - Let's Get It Started
- From the album that refuses to die and keeps producing hits.
6. Kelis feat. André 3000 - Millionaire
7. 3 Of A Kind - Baby Cakes
- A UK #1 single that I just. Don't. Get.
8. Khia - My Neck My Back (Lick It) (Kardinal Beats Clean Radio Edit)
- Female rapper talks dirty, with bleeps. Yawn.
9. Ice Cube feat. Mack 10 & Ms. Toi - You Can Do It (2004)
- Male rapper talks even dirtier with even more bleeps. Yaaaawwwn.
10. Joss Stone - You Had Me
- Wickedly talented for her age. Hell, for any age.
11. Christina Milian feat. Joe Budden- Whatever U Want
12. Sugababes - Caught In A Moment
- Nope, not a U2 remake.
13. The Pirates feat. Enya, Shola Ama, Naila Boss & Ishani - You Should Really Know
- Frankee responded to "F*** It (I Don't Want You Back)" with "F.U.R.B." Similarly, this is a reply to Mario's "I Don't Want To Know", using the same sample. Enya is just sitting back in her chair and raking in the royalties.
14. Houston - I Like That
- No, not Whitney. A male US rapper.
15. Mousse T feat. Emma Lanford - Is It Cos I'm Cool?
16. Deep Dish - Flashdance
- No, not the "What a Feeling!" cover.
17. Angel City feat. Lara McAllen - Do You Know (I Go Crazy)
18. Michael Gray - The Weekend
19. Intenso Project feat. Lisa Scott-Lee - Get It On
20. Dannii Minogue vs FlowerPower - You Won't Forget About Me
21. Danzel - Pump It Up
- Above five: Forgetable dance.
22. Eyeopener - Hungry Eyes
- Remake of Eric Carmen's contribution to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, but now you CAN dance dirty to it.

In summary, there are several US-originated hits that are included on this set, but not a single UK-originated track that looks like it will make it in America.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

At Their Best ~ The Crusaders

In the Pocket

The Return ~ Pat Martino

Barney Kessel's Swingin' Party at Contemporary ~ Barney Kessel

Cool Christmas ~ Indigo

Bye-Ya ~ Steve Trio Lacy

Alba Argentina ~ Rossana Casale

Bombay Bhangra Club ~ Various Artists

Bandiera Gialla ~ Ivan Cattaneo

Bossa Nova-Greatest Hits ~ Various Artists